The show is at once absurd and sweet, smart and silly. In fact, the duo could probably just stand onstage doing absolutely nothing and still be hilarious. And I am not exactly sure why. It just is.
 Jessica Potter, See Magazine

See more reviews of Cabaret Terrarium, including audio and video interviews, in the links at left.

NHARCOLEPSY:

Some of these reviews are on the original websites, and you might have
to search for the word "Nharcolepsy."

[Raises]
the level of comedy to a high art. ...[Exemplifies] the rigorous standards
of performance and writing that Fringe plays achieve at their best. 
The Globe and Mail, Toronto

We all may
be figments in the imaginations of everybody's favourite cabaret singers,
Gustave Flaubert and Nhar, but I can't think of a better place to exist.
...[Will] leave you breathless from laughter. Sleep will be the last thing
on your mind with entertainment this fabulous.  Uptown
Magazine, Winnipeg

The only
person in the Warehouse who didn't crack a smile during this hilarious
hour of bizarro storytelling was grim-faced actor Richard Harrington...
[and] Kauffman performs an abominable rendition of Stormy Weather which
will have you chuckling for days.  Winnipeg
Free Press

Harrington
is a master straight man and Kauffman is a talented physical comedian.
 Winnipeg Sun

MOTEL
CALIFORNIA

(Note: all
reviews that refer to Hotel California, Motel California and The
Show Formerly Known As are referring to the same show. It was originally
Hotel California, but unfortunately that turned out to
be the name of a famous song by The Eagles. There might be occasional
mention of Don Henley or of The Eagles in these reviews, but Harrington
& Kauffman would like to make clear that they have no affiliation,
past or present, with Don Henley or with attorneys for Don Henley or The
Eagles):

"I'm
watching this for the first time and I'm thinking to myself, what in God's
name is this? What is this thing I'm watching? It's not exactly theater,
or is it?" Pesce ... realized during the performance that he was
witnessing the evolution of a new style of theater.  Albuquerque
Journal (preview article)

...Nharcolepsy,
by the New York duo of Richard Harrington and Chris Kauffman, is genuinely
bizarre and, I think, brilliant. And there will be those among you who
think I'm crazy. This is the team that brought Hotel California
to the 2001 Fringe, where it was rechristened The Show Formerly Known
As because of threats from Don Henley's lawyer, which is pretty amusing
in itself.
If Beckett were funny. ... [reviewer's ellipses] You see, it's not easy
to describe, much less elucidate, the uniquely deadpan hilarity that informs
this minimalist vaudeville which is happening, for the very last time,
before its participants die of hypothermia. It chronicles, in song and
dance, scientific commentary, the quest of lugubrious Belgian Gustave
Flaubert, "an artist of ze cabaret," and his (mostly) silent
companion Nhar to track down the Yeti at the North Pole. We are 12 kilometres
from the North Pole, in the middle of a blizzard, helpfully staged by
Nhar, who scatters white paper confetti. But we are also 8,000 kilometres
from the North Pole, here in a theatre in Edmonton. "The only way
to explain it," says Gustave, "is that you do not exist."
But "just because you are a figment, don't sell yourself short."
We have been provided with ping-pong balls, and must throw them at the
stage whenever it appears the pair are about to fall asleep and die.

Why is the story of Gustave's Norwegian grandmother and his "childish
dream to find the Yeti," by ancient Peugeot, fishing boat, and finally
dogsled, so uproarious? It's almost impossible to explain. But it has
a lot to do with the gravitas of the glum, phlegmatic, uningratiating
pair onstage: Gustave, who's telling it, and Nhar, in a subservient role,
grimly providing theatrical props, costume pieces or audiovisual aids
to assist the master in his presentation. The musical production numbers,
like The Song Of the Importance Of The European Grandmother, and mime
sequences have a dogged, flattened out, anti-theatrical quality that is
hysterical. Their timing is exquisite, full of long, agonizing pauses
and the tiniest flickering glances.

They've taken the great vaudevillian traditions of silliness and reinvented
them. And there's genius in that.  Liz Nicholls

and from
the fringe roundup, later in the week:

August 21,
2004

... Something
wholly original and bizarre, and not for people who would rather be watching
TV: Sorry, the leading example of this enlivening Fringe experience has
already up and left town. What you've missed, mes amis, was Gustave Flaubert,
a gloomy Belgian, and his slightly apologetic assistant Nhar, in a surreal
cabaret called Nharcolepsy at the North Pole, before they die
of hypothermia. Meanwhile they take the bottom right out of any previous
notions of deadpan. Full of brilliantly stupid, but not stupidly brilliant,
moments. The people who didn't love it hated it.  Liz Nicholls

The
Edmonton Sun
Edmonton, Alberta
August 13, 2004

Humour
is Deadly Serious

For the
Nharcolepsy duo of Richard Harrington and Chris Kauffman, humour
is a deadly serious business. They crack not a smile as they recount how
they ended up dying of hypothermia while chasing the Yeti to within 12
kilometres of the Canadian North Pole.

Kauffman (known as Nhar), the nearly silent of the two, expresses it all
when he arises out of a one-man sleeping bag with a blue ball. He places
two plastic figures on it and then covers them with shaving cream.

Something quite momentous is going to take place in glacial wilderness.

You may remember the duo two years ago when they convulsed audiences at
the Fringe with the deadpan, surreal humour of The Show Formerly Known
As ...

Who will ever forget Kauffman's memorable delivery of Blue Moon? This
time the performer, who sounds as if he gargles regularly with Drano,
does the same service for Stormy Weather.
Harrington, who calls himself Gustave Flaubert, is partnered with his
near-mute friend in a cabaret. To prove that he is more than just a pretty
face, he plays several toy instruments, including a baby accordion and
a zither.

The two, for reasons that beggar description, are on a quest to track
down the Yeti who have migrated from Nepal to Northern Canada.

Their humour is both silly and profound. It's all in the timing as they
milk every pause for all it is worth, waiting and daring the audience
not to laugh.

They provide us with small plastic balls to throw at them whenever they
seem to be giving in to hypothermia and we heave them with great enthusiasm
when they run out of steam.

Gustave spins his tragic tale in his gumbo Flemish accent while Kauffman
runs around the stage coming up with tacky props to illustrate what his
partner has to say (plastic packing for snow, stick puppets for the Yeti).

The story comes to a tragic conclusion, but you probably won't notice
because you'll be laughing so hard. — Colin MacLean

See
Magazine
Edmonton, Alberta
August 16-22, 2004

Existential
clowns Richard Harrington and Chris Kauffman wowed me last time they were
in town (The Show Formerly Known As) and totally blew me away
in their brand-new production: Nharcolepsy, an odd-ball tale
of two sad-sack "singer of the cabaret" slowly dying of hyperthermia
[sic] at the North Pole at the tail end of a trek they've undertaken to
track down the Yeti. From their mangled, mock-French accents to
their quirky take on song and dance numbers, this is a show that never
stops entertaining yet manages to be profoundly and soberingly enlightening
at the same time (i.e., addressing those HUGE issues of life and death).
— Gilbert A. Bouchard

The
Seattle Times
Seattle, Washington
September 23, 2003

Lunatic
fringe

Nope, it's not a typo. "Nharcolepsy" features a fellow named
Nhar who happens to be afflicted with a terrible sleep disorder. A surreal
existentialist grab-bag from New York comic duo Harrington & Kauffman,
"Nharcolepsy" takes hints from the recent success of "Hedwig
and the Angry Inch," capitalizing on the humor of silly European
accents, grim lounge singers and odd physical ailments.

Here's the plot, as best it can be reconstructed: Richard Harrington plays
a straitlaced Belgian singer named Gustave who, on the advice of his dead
Belgian grandmother, treks to the North Pole to hunt the elusive Yeti.
The mostly silent Chris Kauffman plays the titular Nhar, a fellow of unknown
nationality who follows Gustave to the North Pole for unknown reasons.
The audience is charged with keeping the hypothermic duo from falling
asleep by periodically flinging Wiffle balls at the stage. Enemies of
audience participation, just know this: You'll be so invested in keeping
these guys awake, you won't even care that you have to be part of the
show. The two are masters of deadpan humor, intertwining a font of Belgian
grandmother jokes with a surprising amount of emotionality. —
Leah B. Green

TheatreSeattle.com
Seattle, Washington
September 24, 2003

If the sheath
of reviews spilling out of the press packet I received is any indication,
then Richard Harrington and Chris Kauffman have become the darlings of
thefringe festival circuit. After spending an hour or so as a part
of their group hallucination, I think I can understand why. It's
not easy dealing with the idea that one's existence is merely a manifestation
of someone else's slowly freezing neural pathways, but Harrington and
Kauffman in their guises as Belgian "singer of the cabaret"
Gustave and his mostly mute sidekick Nhar, certainly present as amusing
an argument as one could wish to justify that this is our actual state
of being.

With a head
mix of Existentialism and Absurdism, combined with skillful physical comedy,
Nharcolepsy is a simple tale told simply and to rib-splitting effect.
Gustave and Nhar are dying of exposure and hypothermia just a few
miles shy of the North Pole, where they have journeyed in order to fulfill
Gustave's life long dream of encountering the legendary yeti. As
they slowly freeze on the ice flows, they conjure up an audience out of
the last dregs of their functioning consciousness in order to give one
final performance, which turns out to be an hilarious recounting of Gustave's
early childhood, his fascination with the creature that has prompted this
journey, and the resulting trek from Norway to their present predicament
at the top of the world. Along the way, we figments of their imagination
though we may be, are treated to their silly antics performed to Gustave's
musical accompaniment on a variety of instruments, and are even allowed
to engage in what surely must be a wish-fulfillment for many audience
members, being able to pelt the actors onstage with plastic golf balls
whenever they begin to nod off into unconsciousness.

Kauffman
in particular as the seldom-speaking Nhar proves to be an adept physical
comedian, while his counterpart Harrington, with his deadpan Jacques Cousteau-influenced
delivery style is an impressive story-teller. Together they conjure
an irresistibly infectious world of remote Norwegian village customs,
goofy made up songs, frolicking polar bears, and a breakdancing Abominable
Snowman. In description it probably all sounds ludicrous -- which
it is -- and incomprehensible -- which it almost is. But, on viewing,
it leaves one with an impression similar to watching Waiting for Godot,
if Godot were in fact assumed to be the shadow of impending death.
By the time they succumb to their inevitable fate, Gustave and Nhar have
used their peculiar brand of humor to teach us a little bit about the
indomitable human spirit and our ability to discover the best part of
our selves even in the face of certain oblivion. 
Christopher Comte

The
Globe and Mail
Toronto, Ontario
July 23, 2002

(from an
article about the fringes in Western Canada appearing in Toronto's Globe
and Mail)

...Two other
plays, Nharcolepsy (about a Belgian cabaret singer and his sidekick,
who travel to the Arctic to give their last performance) by Richard Harrington
and Chris Kauffman of New York, and The Slip-Knot (in which Toronto's
TJ Dawe brilliantly weaves together stories about three jobs he had, and
the people he encountered through them) raise the level of comedy to a
high art: In very different ways, both of these plays are brilliant. They
exemplify the rigorous standard of performance and writing that Fringe
plays achieve at their best. Robert Enright

Uptown
Magazine
Winnipeg, Manitoba
July 25, 2002

We all may
be figments in the imaginations of everybody's favourite cabaret singers,
Gustave Flaubert and Nhar, but I can't think of a better place to exist.
Richard Harrington and Chris Kauffman of Hotel California are back
together at the Fringe to present their brilliant and hallucinatory comic
stylings, this time ruminating on "The mystery of life and death."
The two wondrously blend crackling deadpan humour and superb physical
comedy into a this-time-snowy dreamworld that will leave you breathless
with laughter. Sleep will be the last thing on your mind with entertainment
this fabulous. Barb Stewart

Winnipeg
Free Press
Winnipeg, Manitoba
July 20, 2002

The only
person in the Warehouse who didn't crack a smile during this hilarious
tour of bizarro storytelling was grim-faced actor Richard Harrington,
whose deadpan demeanour is reminiscent of an Andy Kauffman/Stephen Wright
blend.

Harrington
plays a Belgian mercenary-cum-cabaret singer named Gustave Flaubert who,
with his speaking mime partner Nhar (Chris Kauffman), treks to the North
Pole to fulfill his childhood dream of discovering the Yeti, better known
as the abominable snowman. Stuck in a blizzard, the pair perform their
last cabaret before they succumb to hypothermia.

Kauffman,
who makes a memorable entrance by rolling onto the stage zippered into
a duffle bag, performs an abominable rendition of Stormy Weather which
will have you chuckling for days. Harrington also plays the ukulele, zither
and accordion, but most effectively, the audience, to produce the sweet
sound of laughter. Kevin Prokosh

Winnipeg
Sun
Winnipeg, Manitoba
July 20, 2002

The first
order off business in this two-man comedy is to hand out small whiffle
balls to the audience. Why? We'll get to that later. As told by one Gustave
Flaubert (Richard Harrington), this is the story of Gus's childhood dream
to discover the legendary Yeti, a search that took him to the North Pole,
where he and his sidekick Nhar (Chris Kauffman) now await certain, frigid
death. The play is disjointed, but Harrington & Kauffman have great
chemistry  Harrington is a master straight man and Kauffman is a
talented physical comedian. Overall, Nharcolepsy is worth the price
of admission. And the audience gets to play along. Those balls? They're
for flinging at the actors to wake them from potentially fatal narcoleptic
dozes . Jon Waldman

Reviews
of Motel California:

Baltimore
CityPaper
Baltimore, Maryland
October 24, 2001

An esoteric
and thoroughly bizarre comedy, Richard Harrington and Chris Kauffman's
MOTEL CALIFORNIA is an entertaining if brief evening at the theater.
The 55-minute play tells the story of Gustave Flaubert (Harrington), a
no-relation-to-the-writer Belgian man with an incredibly thick accent
who hears the Eagles' song "Hotel California" on a trip to Nepal
and decides he must become what he calls a "soldier freelance"
in Colombia. After spending some quality time killing people, he hears
the song again, and the disembodied voice of Don Henley tells him to stop
killing people and start a cabaret act. Which he does, with the help of
his Harpo-on-quaaludes assistant Nhar (Kauffman).

But all of
this is really neither here nor there. Motel California's plot
doesn't matter. What matters is the way in which the play displays Harrington
and Kauffman's odd sense of humor and admirable acting chops. The pair
met in a workshop in 1997 and put together this two-man show, originally
titled Hotel California  they changed the name for legal
reasons  performing it at theaters from New York to Prague, on the
Canadian fringe-festival circuit, and this past spring at HBO's U.S. Comedy
Arts Festival in Aspen, Colo. Both actors have an impressive list of credentials,
including theatrical, dance, and clowning training from institutions around
the world. Their study shows in this funny yet understated play, precisely
because the plot doesn't matter.

The actors
have created two totally inexplicable characters who could probably stand
on stage brushing their hair for 20 minutes and make you laugh. Baltimore
native Kauffman occasionally holds a paper plate over his head and sings
"Blue Moon" in a voice that sounds like he just gargled broken
glass; elsewhere he pantomimes various actions that sometimes have to
do with the play  and sometimes don't. Harrington gives an intentionally
stiff, deadpan performance as the thoroughly humorless yet impressionable
Gustave, singing awkwardly upbeat songs about growing up in Belgium or
killing people while playing a tiny accordion. And when the two dance...
well, it might not sound very funny, but it really is. Motel California
will leave you laughing even as it has you scratching your head.
Anna Ditkoff

The
Orlando Weekly
Orlando, Florida
May 16-22, 2002

(from a review
of the Orlando International Fringe Festival)

...Motel
California, on the other hand, is a hoot and a half. Their sights
fixed unerringly on the absurd, comedians Richard Harrington and Chris
Kauffman mount a sly story of a Belgian seeker (Harrington) who embarks
on a new life's path due to the God-like influence of erstwhile Eagle
Don Henley. A nearly mute sidekick (Kauffman) provides the stage-managing
support to our hero's hilariously perfunctory anecdotes, which are punctuated
by silly songs that don't rhyme and a zoology quiz for the audience. You
could win a beer!.  Steve Schneider

Albuquerque
Journal
Albuquerque, New Mexico
January 11, 2002

Staging
Revolutions

Joe Pesce
and the rest of Albuquerque's Riverside Ensemble have had some amazing
experiences while touring their theater productions the last few years.
But seeing the hilarious "Motel California" for the first time
was one of the most memorable.

"One
guy comes out and just starts talking in a Belgian accent about his fascination
with Don Henley and the Eagles," Pesce recalled. "Suddenly,
he brings out this mute little sidekick of his. He's can't speak, but
he's trying to sing 'Blue Moon' because he's never been on stage before
and he has an audience and he's trying to emote. "I'm watching this
for the first time and I'm thinking to myself, what in God's name is this?
What is this thing I'm watching? It's not exactly theater, or is it?"

Pesce, ensemble
president, said he realized during the performance that he was witnessing
the evolution of a new style of theater.

"These
guys are creating something completely original, packing it in a suitcase
and going," Pesce said.

Also on the
eclectic bill during the three-week festival are "Tears of the Ditchdigger"
by the Djalma Primordial Science Laboratory, previously of Berlin and
New York City, but now located in Questa; the renowned Bread and Puppet
Theater Company of Vermont; "Live Girls Do Elektra" by the Seattle-based
Macha Monkey Productions; "Sabotage II," the absurdist improv
piece created by local actors Shenoah Allen and Mark Chavez; and the Riverside
Ensemble, performing bits from its upcoming season.

The late-night
Reptilian Lounge will also run on three consecutive Saturday nights.

More than
anything, Pesce wants to expose Albuquerque audiences and theater people
to something they probably won't see here.

The show
is curated from among the scores of theater groups that Riverside has
crossed paths with in Canada and Europe since it began touring in 1995.

"The
mandate is that these companies have to be creating new work that they
originate themselves," he explained.

In addition,
Pesce is looking for theater styles not usually seen here and a willingness
of the groups to teach University of New Mexico theater students the styles.

"We
all came out of the UNM Theatre Department," Pesce said. "We
have a devotion to our old department."

The festival
kicks off Tuesday, Jan. 15, at the Riverside Theatre with a party featuring
food, live music and special guests.

On Thursday,
Jan. 17, Bread and Puppet Theatre director Peter Schumann presents "Fiddle
Talk," during which he plays musical instruments, chants, talks about
the state of the world and about the company's mission.

During week
three, Bread and Puppet will present "Insurrection Mass: A Funeral
for a Rotten Idea," a satirical and political look at the modern
world. Before the shows, the company will bake and distribute bread outside
the Center for the Arts at UNM.

The company
started in New York City about four decades ago, Pesce said.

"The
most important thing about them as an addition to the festival, as sort
of the grandfather company ... is that we have these physical comedy companies,
retellings of Greek tragedies, original clown pieces and butoh theater
and this piece, that shows an example of how to weave politics and art
together successfully politics and puppetry, larger-than-life characters
and masks."

"Live
Girls Do Elektra" features actresses Kristina Sutherland and Desiree
Prewitt, who wrote the piece.

"They
do a modern version of the Electra-Agamemnon Greek tragedy set in modern
suburbia, and it's very funny," Pesce said. "They call it a
'gin-soaked suburbia.' It's a little like if you were to take a Greek
tragedy and cross it with 'Bewitched,' or 'I Dream of Jeannie.' "

"Tears
of a Ditchdigger" is an example of butoh theater, a combination of
live music, structured improvisation and dancing. The avant-garde Japanese
art form was created in the '60s and strives for spontaneity, emotional
honesty and a connection to the primitive, through abstract body movements.

Pesce said
the theater business is tough all over and the groups appearing here are
examples of people who did not wait for work to come to them.

"When
you get out of school, you don't have to just walk out the front door
of the theater department and say, 'wow, there's no jobs for me. I'll
just go to work at the bank,' " Pesce said.

"You
can sit down with a friend, write a play, rehearse it, create it, book
it in festivals yourself. And you can do that and you can live off of
that," Pesce added.

(from a review
of the Riverside Theater's "Revolutions International Theatre Festival
2002")

...At the
Outpost, Richard Harrington and Chris Kauffman's "Motel California"
is a million miles from "Elektra" in style and tone. It's small
and subtle, and ineffable bits of comedy snowball to the inevitable conclusion.

It's the
story of Belgian Gustave Flaubert (Harrington) with Kauffman's Nhar as
sidekick, chorus and stage manager.

Nhar starts
the show with a medley of "Blue Moon," "You Send Me,"
and "Rocket Man" in a hoarse, halting voice.

Then Flaubert,
with a ridiculous French-Belgian accent, reads the story of a menage a
quatre with Don Henley of the Eagles and three working girls with great
seriousness and intensity.

Flaubert
then tells us the story of his life, growing up in southern Belgium, trekking
in Nepal and working as a mercenary in Colombia. Henley appears to him
in two visitations, and by the end of the show, he's sung karaoke style
"Hotel California," a really silly song....
 Ann L. Ryan

The
Edmonton Journal
Edmonton, Alberta
August 18, 2001

Hilarity
meets brilliance in one twisted tour-de-force

Not much
of a title, but there is a cosmic point in this twisted tour-de-force
conceived and performed by Americans Richard Harrison [sic] and Chris
Kauffman that ranks as one of the most hilarious bits in Fringe history.

Harrington
plays Gustav [sic] Flaubert, in this reading a 39-year-old Belgique
whose life-transforming revelation happened on a pre-university trip
to Nepal, when the disembodied voice of Don Henley spoke to him and pointed
to the last verse of Hotel California as the key to Gustav's future.
As anyone would discern, that involved becoming a paid mercenary, a "soldier
freelance" (delivered a la Hercule Poirot) in Colombia, killing his
way into a pleasant middle-class life in Cali with a high-tech submachine-gun.

Aided by
his tuqued, clownish aide-de-camp Nhar (Kauffman), we're led down Gustav's
critical path, guided in important ways at key intervals by the inspiration
of the ex-Eagle and the inclusion of a variety of expository ditties performed
on the concertina (petite) by M. Flaubert, whose head is square
enough to level an I.M. Pei building. Music stretches from Orff to The
Gipsy Kings, and Patricia Buckley's directiono is suitably straight-ahead
in a charmingly low-tech stage design.

There is
brilliance in this cabaret/clowning.

Originally
titled Hotel California, Messrs. K and H were slapped with a cease-and-desist
order by Eagles lawyers, anxious to protect copyright.

Well.

Don and the
boys in Hawaiian shirts and twin Beemers should be proud to be associated
with a work of this distinction.  Alan Kellogg

The
Edmonton Sun
Edmonton, AlbertaAugust
24, 2001

A baffling
play but big laughs

I'm speechless.
There are two shows at the Fringe this year that render me incapable of
words. One is Pure Hoopal. And the other is The Show Formerly
Known As.

What are
these shows about? What is it they do? And why are they so funny?

Let me try
to give you some idea.

There's this
guy  Chris Kauffman  I think. He doesn't say much. In fact,
he's mostly a mime. Anyway, he comes out on stage and sings Blue Moon
in a voice that sounds like he's been gargling with Drano.

While he
sings, he holds a paper plate on the end of a fork over his head. He seems
surprised it's there.

Then this
other guy comes out. He tells us he's from Belgium. At least I think he
says he's from Belgium because he speaks in an accent so thick as to be
almost impenetrable. He's Richard Harrington  I think. Harrington
is so deadpan as to make the Old Strathcona fireman's statue look like
Speedy Gonzales. While Harrington is telling us about his career as a
ruthless mercenary (actually I think he calls it a "soldier of freelance")
in Colombia and Nepal in this pea soup accent and carrying this plastic
toy gun (I am not making this up), Kauffman runs around miming out parts
of his story, playing the music, setting up the mikes and generally acting
as a major domo.

Every once
in a while Harrington sings a song that neither rhymes, scans nor makes
much sense.

At one point
he decides to dance, and there hasn't been such a display since St. Vitus
went to his reward.

Once you
get into the right space  all of this is laugh-out-loud, uproariously
funny.

I have no
idea why.  Colin McLean

See
Magazine
Edmonton, Alberta
August 21-26, 2001

Richard Harrington
and Chris Kauffman offer the sort of engaging inventiveness that one wants
to see more of. Both performers seeize the attention, but it's Kauffman
who steals the show with his talent for mime, his plaintively hoarse voice
and his delightfully expressive face. It has something to do with Walden
Pond, the life of a mercenary and, well, Don Henley. It's rough, tender
adn terribly funny, and you can't take your eyes off it. I'm not entirely
sure I know what this show is about, but I wouldn't mind seeing it again
all the same.  Kevin Wilson

Vue
Weekly
Edmonton, Alberta
August 23-29, 2001

What do Thoreau,
Don Henley, the jungles (?) of Nepal and William S. Burroughs have to
do with each other? Apparently not a lot, but that doesn't stop the Belgian
mercenary Gustave Flaubert (Richard Harrington) and his touqued sidekick
and straight man Nhar (Chris Kauffman) from telling their story. With
a hilariously dead pan delivery they weave their tragic tale all the way
to the big finale  the singing of the song that used to be the play's
namesake until Don Henley pulled the plug  hint: think hotel in
a west coast state  showing the world he no longer has a sense of
humour. It's a good thing this duo has enough for all.  P.D.

TimeOut
New YorkNew
York, New York
May 11-18, 2000

Things
that make you go hmm

Harrington
and Kauffman bring their inexplicable comedy show to the Westbeth.

The most
inspired comedy is usually the kind you try to describe before following
it up with "Well, you had to be there." By this theory, Richard
Harrington and Chris Kauffman hit the big time when a recent favorable
review of their show Hotel California said basically that and added,
"At times you're not quite sure why their material is so funny."

Like the
critics, audiences have been responding favorably to the duo's show during
performances at the St. Mark's Theater, the New York International Fringe
Festival and even the Mezi Ploty Festival of Theater in Prague. For the
next four Sundays, Harrington & Kauffman will be performing Hotel
California at the Westbeth Theatre Center.

So now that
you've been told how indescribable the show is, it's time for the description.
(Of course, in situations like these, it's best to go ask the artist.)
"Ostensibly, it's about two characters trying to put on a cabaret,"
says Harrington. "One is a former mercenary, the other is this mysterious
character that barely speaks. It's basically a clown show."

Wondering
about the familiar title? Yes, the classic Eagles song also factors into
the show. "A large part of the story," continues Harrington,
"is one character hearing the song in various places  and it
tells him to do things." At least it's not "Helter Skelter."
 Greg Emmanuel

InTheater
New York, New YorkSeptember
20, 1999

(from a review
of the Pure Pop Festival)

... On the
opposite end of the entertainment spectrum is Hotel California
at NADA 45, featuring the talented comedy duo of Richard Harrington and
Chris Kauffman. Harrington plays Gustave Flaubert, a mercenary from Belgium
who has given up his life of killing to star in his own cabaret show;
Kauffman is his mostly silent assistant, Nhar. At times, you're not quite
sure why their material is so funny. Is it Harrington's cartoonish Belgian
accent? His deadpan delivery? Kauffman's confused facial expressions or
thin, scratchy singing voice? The two actors work well together and with
the odd guest artists they bring in (which at the performance I attended
included a zany pair of dancers grooving to a medley of songs from the
'70s and early '80s, a supposedly French professor who literally demonstrated
humankind's evolution, and a folk singer crooning a love ballad to his
stuffed monkey). The show fits in perfectly with the festival's exploration
of popular culture, drawing from rock music, vaudeville, and several other
sources for inspiration.
 Dan Bacalzo

Back
Stage
New York, New YorkFebruary
11-17, 2000

Each August,
the New York International Fringe Festival offers everything from deconstructed
Brecht to bright-eyed solo performance to undefinable oddities like "Hotel
California," which is being revived through March 3 at the St. Mark's
Theater.

"Hotel
California" is my favorite kind of Fringe production: a couple of
skilled performers with a dangerously subtle sense of comedy and an impassioned
embrace of no-budget theater. The show, directed by Patricia Buckley,
is ostensibly an earnest attempt at New York cabaret performance by a
former mercenary killer from Belgium named Gustave Flaubert (Richard Harrington).
Gustave believes the voice of singer/songwriter Don Henley of the '70s
supergroup the Eagles  whose rock anthem lends the show its title
 has led him to this new career.

The faithful
sidekick to this assassin-turned-song-stylist is the barely audible Nhar
(Chris Kauffman). Nhar opens the show with a raspy rendition of "Blue
Moon," which he delivers to a styrofoam plate held over his head
on the end of a marshmallow fork. You might have to see this to understand
how hilarious it is.

Both performers
have a gift for props, whether it's a toy accordion or a string of owl-shaped
lawn lanterns that acquire an unexpectedly sinister air with the right
background music. Elizabeth Greenman's lighting meshes nicely with the
sound design of Harrington, Kauffman, and Ian P. Murphy. The wild cards
in this evening of controlled chaos are guest artists like Spencer White,
a fantastic guitar player and folk singer who, at a recent show, performed
a wildly catchy ode to fiber supplements, and Dr. Nicki, a seemingly unassuming
woman who rather convincingly spoke the language of dolphins.

The program
states that "Hotel California" is Harrington & Kauffman's
first project together. I am excited and a little afraid to see what these
two will do next.  Andy Buck

CBC-TV
24 HoursWinnipeg,
Manitoba
July 22, 2000

If you had
told me that a play about a Belgian mercenary who leaves the dispensing
of death to become a cabaret singer because of psychic visitations from
Don Henley would become one of my favourite Fringe shows, I would have
recommended you for the shirt with the long sleeves. But "Hotel California"
is a triumph. Both Richard Harrington as the mercenary, Gustave Flaubert,
and Chris Kauffman as Nhar, his solicitous assistant, are perfect in their
respective roles. Harrington's dead-pan seems a miracle in the face of
what he's saying (and singing), not to mention what Mr. Kauffman is up
to. This is comedy of the highest order and I've never heard a version
of The Eagles' classic song that I like as much as this one. Sell all
your old albums if you have to in order to catch this show. Along with
the Hoopals, it's the best, most imaginative and most thoroughly entertaining
comedy at this year's Fringe.
 Robert Enright, CBC 24 Hours

Winnipeg
Free Press
Winnipeg, ManitobaJuly
26, 2000

Since it
premiered, critics all over North America have been left unable to adequately
describe the wonder and pleasure that is Hotel California. This brief
review will be no different.

The largest
hurdle in the way of an adequate description is the magnificent but unusual
humour of Chris Kauffman, who plays the role of Nhar, and Richard Harrington,
who is Gustave Flaubert. Together, Nhar and Gustave are a comedic team
of clockwork precision that are able to send their audience into convulsion
with a single unblinking gaze from their Spartan stage.

Kauffman's
Nhar is very nearly a mime (you'll have to buy a ticket to figure out
what that means) and he is also the tiny hamster that makes the play's
moving parts hum. Harrington's Gustave is, well, difficult to describe.
Imagine comic Steven Wright trying to do Peter Sellers' Inspector Clouseau.
(Once again, seeing will be believing.) Together, they present a twisted
and demented ode to Don Henley, singer-songwriter and apparently fan of
the world's oldest profession.

What finally
makes Hotel California hum, however, is the sheer and effortless humour
in every twitch, shuffle and utterance. Although not for everyone, those
with a healthy and broad-minded sense of humour will definitely get it.
You just won't be able to describe it.  Dan Lett

The
Westender
Vancouver, British ColumbiaSeptember
11, 2000

This silly
cabaret is a toy box full of way-off-the-wall surprises. Gustave Flaubert
(Richard Harrington), aided by the downtrodden Nhar (Chris Kauffman) tells
us why Don Henley is great. He begins by reading a passage from a soft-porn
novel written by pros who allegedly serviced Henley, and who claimed to
have exclaimed during the act, "Oh, Don, you're the king!" and
"Check me into the Hotel California!"

Flaubert
is first smitten with the '70s anthem while on holiday in Nepal, and hears
"Don speak to me. It was clear. I had to kill people." (At this
point, Nhar rushed out with a plastic crossbow). It was also Nhar's duty
to provide interpretive dance for the non-rhyming, autobiographical tunes
Flaubert spoke-sang, accompanying himself on squeezebox. There's even
an audience game where the winner gets a Belgian beer and their snapshot
taken on stage. And, yes, after a funny 55 minutes, you can leave. 
Leanne Campbell

CBC
TV SaskatoonSaskatoon, Saskatchewan
August 9, 2000

"Hotel
California" defies description. New York's Richard Harrington and
Chris Kauffman present an odd, odd story with determined, dead pan delivery.
And it works. Yes, the tale of a Belgian mercenary who gives up his life
of killing for a life in the cabaret  all thanks to Don Henley and
the song, "Hotel California"  somehow works. It's one
of the best things at the Fringe  truly strange and hilariously
absurd.  Jennifer Weber

The
Times-Colonist
Victoria, British ColumbiaAugust
28, 2000

On paper,
there's nothing funny about Hotel California.

It's a two-man
show. One fellow, named Nhar, is a really good mime with a really bad
voice. The other, Gustave Flaubert, is a really bad singer, a really bad
musician and an even worse dancer.

As Gustave
tells his life-story  about growing up in Belgium, his trip to Nepal,
his career as a freelance killer in Colombia and the pair of epiphanies
he had listening to the Eagles' Hotel California on the radio 
Nhar illustrates with mime. He also serves as props master, sound and
lighting tech and general flunky for Gustave's performance.

None of that
may sound particularly funny. But this show is laugh-out-loud hilarious.

It's all
in the delivery  or lack thereof. Gustave (played by New York-based
actor and director Richard Harrington) serves up a perfectly stone-faced
diatribe. The impeccably dressed storyteller never so much as cracks a
smile throughout  even as he plays his tiny squeeze-box accordion
for the third time (same four-line tune, different non-rhyming lyrics,
once in Spanish).

Nhar (played
by fellow New Yorker Chris Kauffman) is all wide-eyed servitude, taking
care of Gustave's every need. Only once does he lose his head, when he
becomes so overcome by the music that he takes off in a non-Gustave-sanctioned
direction.

Hotel California
gets my vote for the show among shows. It was wildly funny, cosmically
intelligent and acted by two absolutely wonderful dramatists. Richard
Harrington and Chris Kauffman were worthy recipients of the only standing
ovation I saw all Fringe long. Truly unique and impressive in spirit and
presentation.  Frank Peebles

Winnipeg
SunWinnipeg, Manitoba
July 25, 2000

What's so
funny about Belgians? Is it the clothes? The music? Waffles? Well, whatever
it is, Richard Harrington seems to have nailed it with his character,
Gustave Flaubert. Aided by his strange, Igor-like, clown sidekick, Nhar
(Chris Kauffman, whose raspy-voiced renditions of Blue Moon and Rocketman
get enormous laughs), Harrington's performance keeps audiences rolling
in the aisles.  Peter Vesuwalla

The
Vancouver Sun
Vancouver, British ColumbiaSeptember
7, 2000

Although
it veers toward being too twee, this is still a charming little spoof.
Richard Harrington stars as Gustave Flaubert, not the author of Madame
Bovary but a rather boring Belgian whose career choice (soldier of
fortune) is based in ethereal encounters with The Eagles' drummer Don
Henley (thus the show's title, with the tune to be performed in hilariously
bad deadpan).

Chris Kauffman
is Nhar, a floundering assistant who opens the show with a deliberately
garbled rendition of Blue Moon and then spends his time falling
all over Flaubert. Why we'd be interested in this schlep's disjointed
nonsense, delivered in fractured English, is precisely what's so funny
about this homage to absurdism.  Peter Birnie

The
Star Phoenix
Saskatoon, SaskatchewanAugust
10, 2000

This oddball
comedy is one of those Fringe gems that makes you laugh without knowing
quite why. It's so absurd, it defies description.

It's the
story of how Gustave's life has been shaped by his all-time hero, Don
Henley of the Eagles, and in particular, the classic '70's tune Hotel
California. The tale unfolds through their attempt at putting on a cabaret
show, which is unquestionably bad.

Nhar opens
the show with an eccentric rendition of Blue Moon. His raspy voice is
barely audible as he holds up the moon: a Styrofoam plate attached to
a fork.

Gustave then
makes his grand entrance, starting out with a weird tale about Henley's
alleged penchant for prostitutes. He backtracks to his childhood days
growing up with his best friends Jean-Paul and Paul-Pierre and then moves
on to tell how he came to choose a career in killing. In between, there's
a pop quiz with the prize of an imported beer. It all gets stranger from
there.

Harrington
is a top notch performer, his deadpan delivery bang-on. His character
is exceptionally well-drawn, from his subtle mannerisms and little asides
to his quirky accent that is reminiscent of Peter Sellers' Inspector Clouseau
at times.